//------------------------------//
// 3 - Coming Home 2 Family 
// Story: Legends Of Ponyville 
// by mechafone 
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Emerald groaned as he opened his eyes. Everything was terribly blurry, and it wasn't just because he didn't have his glasses on. Just a few minutes ago (or was it hours ago, he couldn't tell) Rainbow Dash had crashed right into him and sent them both tumbling into the library. Having the wind knocked out of you was not a fun experience. He sat up slowly and immediately felt a hoof on his shoulder. "Whoa, take it easy, guy," came a familiar scratchy voice. Emerald laid back down with a grunt, the strain of movement in his stomach causing him considerable pain.

"Ugh," Emerald grunted. He turned his head to see a blur of sky blue mixed with fuzzy rainbow mane. "You're Rainbow Dash, right?" While Emerald had met Spark Storm's cousin perhaps twice in the last seven years, their extreme opposite personality types kept them from mingling much.

"Uh, yeah," Rainbow said, as if Emerald's question was obvious. "So...sorry about crashing into you like that. I kinda got anxious when I heard that Spark Storm was coming home. Something about a 'misfire' or something at the castle?"

Emerald rolled his still-blurry eyes. "Mishap, actually, but yes. There was a bit of a falling out between Spark Storm and the Princess. I won't go into details, I'll leave that for your cousin."

Rainbow Dash shrugged at this, then looked around at the library. Suddenly realizing that she was surrounded by books, Rainbow started to get a little nervous. "Uhh, hey. He's gonna be here soon, right? I seriously don't want to be in a library longer than I have to."

Emerald Skies sat up again, this time unimpeded. He looked around the floor until he found his glasses, and finally slipped them back on. "Well, I'd say we still have an hour to go before the actual meeting starts, but I don't know when Spark plans to be here."

"Right now, actually," came Spark's voice from the door. The big pegasus stepped inside the closed the door, a weary expression displayed on his countenance. He turned and gave Rainbow Dash a light smile when she came to embrace him tight enough to halt his breathing. She hit him on the shoulder affectionately when she pulled away.

"All right, out with it, cuz. What happened at Canterlot?"

Spark just rolled his eyes and walked past his cousin to sit down at Emerald's center work-table and absently fiddled with a random book found at the top of a three-book stack. "Rainbow, if you're here because Pinkie got a message to you, then you know I'm going to tell everypony what happened at the same time." Spark looked back at Rainbow Dash apologetically. "I'm sorry, Dash, it's just...what happened really sucked. I don't want to go over it again more than I have to, you know?"

Rainbow sighed and glared at Spark. She hated waiting, but she knew what he meant. "Yeah, I get it," she said, looking around the room and fidgeting restlessly. "Look, I can't stay in here if I don't have to be here, I'll see you guys in about an hour." She turned to leave, then looked back at the other two pegasi, posing with an accusing hoof at them, "Do not start without me." And with that, she left the two stallions alone.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and a small, dark form burst into the library, followed by a larger, brighter form. "Chrome! You little sneak! Get back here!"

Spark watched with wide eyes as the small, dark pegasus leapt up onto the table in front of him, a hoof pointed at Spark's chest and shouted, "AH-HAH! I finally found you, brother!"

Rainbow Dash stopped at the table. It was too late. She, Emerald and Spark stared wide-eyed at the ten year old pegasus who resembled a smaller Spark Storm, but with a metallic chrome color in his mane and tail. He also lacked the black around his mouth, and his eyes were a dark plum color.

Spark hadn't said a word in the last ten seconds. He was lost in memory, back to the day that he, Sapphire, Ditzy and Rainbow had gone to confront his parents in Cloudsdale for the second time. It was there that he ran into his little two year old brother. Spark's parents had forgotten about him and had another colt. Spark hadn't been able to take it, and had run off. So, here they were again, face to face. Chrome finally dropped his hoof, a worried look on his face. "Spark? You remember me, don't you? I know it's been eight years, but...you remember me, right?"

Emerald and Rainbow both turned their heads to look at Spark Storm, still silent with shock. Rainbow reached over and punched Spark in the shoulder, earning her a glare until he looked back up at Chrome and nodded. "Yeah, kiddo, I remember you. I promise, there's no way I'll ever forget that moment we met."

Chrome broke out into a grin, even as happy tears started forming in his eyes. "You mean it, big bro?" Spark stared at Chrome, tears of his own threatening to fall. At this point, he couldn't tell if this was a cruel joke being played on him by fate, or if this was really something to be happy about. He was fine with being separated from his biological family. For the longest time, Cheerilee had been his big sister and the only family he needed. Did it really need to get bigger?

...Of course it did. Spark approached Chrome and sat his front hooves on the desk and raised himself up to embrace his younger brother. "Yeah. I really mean it, Chrome." Chrome Spectrum smiled happily as he hugged his long-lost brother. Finally, after years of searching for the truth, he finally had a brother. From the moment of meeting Spark that day, he had been asking his mother who he was. Having never gotten a straight answer, he eventually tricked Rainbow Dash into telling him about his sibling. Since then, he had been bugging his cousin every day to tell him about Spark Storm, though he was denied every time.

Emerald and Rainbow both exchanged a look, and, apparently thinking the same thing, crept slowly from the room and upstairs. Rainbow hopped up onto the open windowsill and chanced a glance back at Emerald with a light grin. "Well, I think I'm gonna take off. I'm so gonna get it for letting Chrome find Spark later, but...well, nothing I can do about it now, right?"

"Pretty much," Emerald replied with a shrug. Rainbow chuckled and took off into the air. From downstairs, Emerald thought he could hear Chrome crying happily. It wasn't a heart-breaking sound, but still feeling too close, Emerald left as well, a gentle smile on his face.



"Hello?" the knocking came almost too quietly to hear. Fluttershy knocked again, taking a moment to glance around the town nervously. She had gotten more than a few looks making her way to the library with such a large predatory bird on her back, and every time she tried to go back, the bird had firmly steered her back into town. After knocking once again (again, nearly too softly to hear) she decided to slip inside. The library was a public place after all.

Once inside, she closed the door and let out a gasp. There, sitting at the table, were two Spark Storms. Was some heinous magic spell at work here?! Or...could it be...? Fluttershy let out a gasp of joy and ran over to Spark Storm so fast that the harpy eagle, clutching a big ball of green in it's wings, fell over onto it's back and dropped the ball, which turned out to be Orea.

As Spark and Chrome turned to see what the noise was, several things happened. First, Fluttershy approached the two and gave Spark a nuzzle before turning to say hello to the colt that she'd seen many times before moving down to the surface. The second, Orea bounced up behind the two older pegasi and hopped onto her 'father's' back and peeped over his head at Chrome, eliciting an awed gasp from Spark's brother. And third, Sohl returned to her tall harpy form and leapt up into the air and came down with her legs on either side of Fluttershy, an annoyed snarl erupting from her. "You dropped me!" she shrieked, just loud enough to cause Fluttershy to drop to the floor with her forelegs over her head.

Chrome, however, let out a scream and bolted for the door. Not wasting a second, Spark flapped his wings once and got to the door before his little brother, effectively blocking it. Chrome tripped when he saw the dark form in his way, rolling to a stop as he collided with Spark's chest. "Aaaaaaaugh! Lemme go, lemme go, it's a monster!" he cried and struggled as Spark lifted him into his forelegs.

"Chrome! Knock it off!" He set Chrome down to look at him, his back to the harpy. Chrome hyperventilated, panic and fear written in his eyes. He looked around wildly until Spark grabbed his face and forced his brother to look at him. "Chrome! Look at me!" After a moment, Chrome calmed down enough to focus on Spark. "They're friends. All of them. You hear me? They're all friends. They won't hurt you."

Chrome looked up into his brother's eyes. He started to calm down when he saw how serious Spark was, but he still wasn't sure. Spark glanced behind Chrome and called, "Fluttershy, can you come here?" Looking up to see Sohl still glaring at her, Fluttershy slowly crawled away from the harpy until she sidled up to the brothers, still on her belly and looking quite subdued. After Spark gave her a 'really?' look, she sat up slowly and smiled sheepishly at Spark. He pulled her closer and looked down at his little brother. "Fluttershy, do me a favor and hold on to him for just a moment, ok?"

Fluttershy squee'd at the idea of holding onto to such a cute mini-Spark and happily wrapped her hooves around Chrome, who tensed and blushed at the sudden contact. Spark rolled his eyes and turned to look at Sohl. She shrugged at him and then sat down on the table top. She seemed to have taken all of this in stride, maybe even enjoying all the ponies running around. He sighed and shook his head as he stepped closer to her. "Has she seen you like this before?" he asked, referring to her tall, bipedal form.

"Yes," she replied, with a more than a little annoyed tone. "She took one look at me and started acting like I was the cutest animal she'd ever seen. Do you have any idea how insulting it is for a harpy to be called cute?" Spark arched a brow as he brushed a hoof through Sohl's feathers. "Uh huh. Have I mentioned that your feathers are the girliest colors I've ever seen?" Expecting Sohl to be even more insulted, Spark was surprised when she smiled happily down at him.

"Aw, no, you haven't!" Spark backed up in alarm when Sohl kneeled down and wrapped her arms around him and planted a kiss on top of his head. He blushed with embarrassment and backed away from her. "What, did you think I'd be insulted with a comment like that? You do know that my natural coloring is used to attract my natural prey, don't you?" she asked as she stood back to her full height, an amused grin on her face.

"What exactly is your natural prey, anyway?"

Sohl smiled down at Spark with a little less amusement and a little more malice, displaying her usually hidden sharp incisors. "They look a lot like harpies. They're shorter, don't have wings, and don't have these," she said, lifting a leg to poke Spark on the nose with a needle-sharp talon. Spark managed not to yelp in pain at the sharp poke to his sensitive nose and pushed Sohl's talon away. He turned away from her, glancing at Chrome and Fluttershy, who still held the younger colt.

Chrome had a large, goofy grin on his face, and Spark had a pretty good idea why. Chrome was just old enough to notice the mare body, and Fluttershy was much too naive to notice him noticing her. He marched over to the two and plucked Chrome out of the mare's clutches and glared at his younger brother, who immediately grinned sheepishly. "Hehe you can totally let Fluttershy hold me again, uh, I think I'm getting scared again..." Chrome said, trying with all his might to look honestly frightened. His older brother merely glared daggers at the younger colt and placed him on the ground.

"Yeah, no. I think you're brave enough to stand on your own four hooves, hm?" he said, giving Chrome a glare that said something completely different. The younger colt nodded and lowered his head slightly. He got the silent message.

"All right, good. Now wait a second, where's...?" He looked around the room for Orea, who had gone surprisingly quiet, and missing, apparently. When his wings twitched with agitation, he felt her resting on his back. How long had she been there? He didn't have time to ask any more questions when a strange thing happened. The air in front of him began to shimmer. All four occupants of the room stared at the spot before the energy in the air collected at the center of the area, then suddenly pop! and a scroll appeared from nowhere, dropping to the floor.

Spark stared silently at his three companions, then cautiously picked it up. He looked it over slowly, then slowly opened it, and read it quietly.


Dear Spark Storm, I hope this reaches you. I have some bad news. Apparently Lemon Pop has gone missing! All we know here at the palace is that she was very upset when she left earlier today. She's been feeling terribly guilty about what happened between you, Sapphire, and Princess Celestia. I thought I would take it upon myself to send you this message via Spike. He's just learning, so I don't know if this has reached you or not. If it has, please keep an eye out for her.

Your Friend

Signed, Twilight Sparkle


Spark Storm let out a heavy sigh as he rolled the message back up and set it down slowly on the center table. All was quiet in the library until Chrome couldn't take it anymore. He stepped closer to Spark, a worried expression on his face. "Bro? What's up?"

Spark frowned as he thought quietly to himself, his eyes on his hooves. After a moment, he turned to look up at Sohl. She returned the look, already reacting to his feelings through Orea. "Lemon Pop is in trouble. It seems like she might've left the Fighters, too. I think we should go look for her."

As he said this, there was a tiny sound from upstairs, like a gasp. All eyes turned towards the upper floor as they saw a flash of blonde tail disappear into the room above. Spark sighed and held a hoof to his forehead. At least he didn't have to worry about looking for Lemon in the woods. "You guys, just...give me a minute," he said as he cantered up the stairs and slipped inside the room, then closed the door behind him. The room was nice and big, with plenty of space and two large beds, but other than these there weren't a lot of places to hide.

After just a moment of searching, Spark took a look under the main bed and found a hiding Lemon Pop. Spark gave her a patient smile, earning him her presence beside him. The two looked into each other's eyes, and Spark didn't need to know her as well as he did to know that she was terribly conflicted and guilty.

Lemon lowered her head just slightly and leaned forward, stopping just inches from Spark. The big pegasus took the hint, and pressed his forehead against hers. The two stayed like this in silent companionship, with nothing but their breathing and an occasional tear falling to the floor breaking the silence.